The Mystery of the Pictographs at the Fate Bell Shelter
A glimpse into life at the Rio Grande some 4,000 years ago
Everyone loves a mystery.
This one involves an extinct people and the evidence of the culture that they left behind.
I’ve written about some of our state and national park adventures on the Weeds & Wildflowers site before. This one happened last summer during our journey through southwest Texas at Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site, which borders the Rio Grande River.
Reading about the Fate Bell Shelter and its pictographs — paintings on the rock walls — cemented my desire to visit, despite the July heat.
From the Texas State Historical Association:
The shelter, which is a state archeological landmark, was named after Mrs. Fate Bell, who owned the land that the shelter occupies. Fate Bell Shelter is a deeply stratified rock shelter containing evidence of over 8,000 years of occupation, from the Archaic Period to the Late Prehistoric Period (ca. 7000 B.C. to A.D. 1500).
We lucked out with a tour as numbers were limited and there was only one tour per day at the time. Of course, who wants to take “a fairly rugged hike” in the middle of summer? That would be me. And I dragged my family along with…
